In all the arts necessary to the comfort of life, and in not a few of those conducive to luxury, the Chinese have made considerable progress. One peculiar feature in processes is the general absence of ma chinery. Except in a few industries the great moving power is manual labor. The silk stuffs of China have long borne a high name, and in several qualities are still unsurpassed. The loom in common use is worked by two persons, one of whom sits on the top of the frame, where he pulls the tteadles and assists in making the various changes which must be made on the machine while in operation. By means of it the workman can imitate almost any pattern. The crapes and flowered satins, and damasks for official dresses, manufactured by the Chinese are particularly excellent. Everybody wears silks. It was formerly the prescribed attire of high officers, and soldiers were not considered in full uniform without it. The finer kinds form the ordinary dresses of the opulent, while the poorest manage to deck themselves in a coarser quality, at least on gala days. The embroidery of silk is carried on to an amazing extent, the perfection to which it has been brought cre ating an almost unlimited demand, both domes tic and foreign, and employing myriads of the inhabitants. Steam-power has latterly been utilized in the reeling and spinning of silk. In cotton goods the Chinese make good and substantial fabrics, but the cheapness and good appearance of the foreign goods have given rise to a large importation. Nankeen, once so common in Europe, is still produced as before, and continues to form an important branch of domestic manufacture. Cotton mills and fac tories of the European type have recently been established. Linen seems not to be made in China. Flax is not grown, but a good substi tute for it is found in the fibres of two or three plants, especially ramee, from which the beautiful grass-cloth, similar in appearance to linen, is extensively woven. Woolen fabrics are made only to a very, limited extent. The con sumption of leather in China is not great, and the manufacture of it is very imperfect. The porcelain of China hic been famous from the earliest periods. The manufacture of the finest forms of it being long known to the Chinese alone, gave them the monopoly of the world, and though in elegance of shape and de sign they must now yield the palm to Europe, for quality of material and rich gorgeous color ing they still hold perhaps the foremost place. Paper is an article that has been made in China from an early period and with great suc cess. The manufacture of glass is not carried on to a great extent, and this is one of the few arts which, at least in regard to its finer processes, the Chinese have condescended to learn from Europeans. In beautiful lacquered ware the Chinese continue unsurpassed. Much of its excellence appears to be owing to the fine varnishes which they have learned to ex tract from native plants. Except in some few articles the Chinese are backward in the manu facture of metal goods; but recently, and under European leading, machinery, small arms and ordnance, warships, etc., are being produced in the country, as well as soap, matches and other articles. Many small articles made by hand display much finish and delicacy of workman ship. See CHINESE ARCHTIECTURE AND ART.
Trade and Commerce.— The inland trade of China, aided by the unusual facilities which it derives from a system of water communica tion, ramifying like net-work over all its prov inces, is of incalculable magnitude. Its rivers and canals are so covered with junks and barges and swarms of smaller boats that there does not seem much exaggeration in the estimate which makes the tonnage belonging to the Chinese little short of the combined tonnage of all other nations. The inland commerce, how is much hampered by the rarity of good roads.
By the opening of the principal ports the foreign commerce has been immensely in creased. Till 1842 the trade with foreigners, exclusive of that carried on by the mainland through the town of Kiachta, with the Rus sians, was jealously restricted to the mouth of Canton River. By the Treaty of Nankin, in the above year, Hongkong was ceded to Great Britain, and Canton and four other ports were thrown open, namely, Amoy, Fu-Chau, Ningpo and Shanghai. At subsequent dates other ports
have been added to the list of treaty-ports for foreign commerce, and about 30 ports are now open, the most northern being Niu-Chwang, in Manchuria, and the farthest inland being Chung-King, on the upper Yang-tse, some 1,500 miles from the river's mouth. Steamers do not go higher at present than Ichang (1,100 miles), the trade above this being carried on by junks or other craft. Several other of the ports are on the Yang-tse. Of all the Chinese ports, Shanghai, at the mouth of the estuary of the Yang-tse, carries on much the largest trade. Regardless of the war, the trade here in 1916 was greater than ever before. The direct foreign commerce exceeded the returns in the year 1913 .by $50,000,000; and the increase over 1915 was $100,000,000. Forty-two per cent of the total foreign trade of China was transacted here. In 1902 China agreed to open five new treaty ports, Chang-Sha, Ngan-King, Wan Hsien, and Kong-Mun.
Among the countries which maintain com mercial relations with the Chinese the prin cipal are Great Britain and her dependencies, Hongkong and India, Japan, the United States and Russia. The latest trustworthy statistics relating to the foreign commerce of China are set forth in The Americas) New York, July 1916, Vol II, No. 10), from which we quote as follows: "Official returns of the trade of China in 1915 have reached this country from Shanghai. The net commerce, not including the trade of Hongkong, and exclusive of a con siderable total of goods carried by Chinese ves sels not within control of the Maritime customs and plying between coast towns and treaty ports, has been in Haikwan taels, equaling 62 cents, . S.) : 1915, imports 454, 475,719; exports 418,861,164; as compared with 1914, imports 569,241,382, and exports 356,226, 629,a etc. It is shown by the complete statistics for the decade 1906-15 that 1915 was "China's record year for exports, in spite of interference with shipping. Demand for silk, tea, natural dyes, antimony and other Chinese products, also higher prices, raised the total of exports. A drop in imports was accounted for by a boycott of Japanese goods and by the fact that, owing to shortage of dyestuffs, colored cottons were not obtainable in usual quantities and at reason able prices, and as white is the mourning color in China, the undyed materials could not be marketed." The total trade of China through the entrepdt of Hongkong was 252,606,127 Haikwan taels. Excluding the trade of Hong kong, China's total trade with the United States in 1915 amounted to 97,622,706 Haikwan taels; with Great Britain 103,493,356; and with Japan 197,926,331 Haikwan taels (1 Haikwan tael® 62 cents currency of the United States).
The Chinese, in carrying on their extensive dealing-s, domestic and foreign, have in all 24 weights and measures, but of these only 6 are in common use, namely, the Hang or tad= 1,4 ounces avoirdupois; kin or pounds avoirdupois; and picul pounds used in weighing bulky articles; and decimals of a tad, called mace or tsien, candareen or fan, and cash or le, used in reckoning bullion, gems, drugs, etc., 19 cash making 1 candareen, 10 candareens 1 mace. The only native coin now current is the cash, a small piece of thin circular copper about three-quarters of an inch diameter, with a square hole in the middle for convenience of stringing. Native silver bullion, called sycee, and gold bullion of similar shape, and usually stamped with the names of the banker and workmen, and the year and dis trict in which it is cast, are used in larger transactions. All taxes are paid in sycee of 98 per cent fineness. Private bankers are found in all large towns, and some of them pay interest on deposits. Whey paper money, which passes current in the particular districts where they are known. The Mexican dollar has been made a current coin all over the empire. In Shanghai, Tien-Tsin, Han-Kow and the north ern ports, the tael is commonly used.